WTAW - Interviews

This podcast contains comments from the June 12, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

The College Station city council agrees to pursue a state grant that if awarded, would pay for 80 percent of doing a study of potential pedestrian and bicyclist safety improvements in the Northgate district.

Public works director Emily Fisher said the grant addresses one of the concerns of a citizens group that has been studying future development of the district since March.

The boundary in the grant application currently is north of University between Wellborn and South College. Councilman Scott Shafer and mayor John Nichols brought up expanding the study area from South College to Texas.

City staff projects the cost of the study for the smaller area could be as much as $325,000 dollars. 

The grant, if awarded, would require the city to cover 20 percent of the cost plus any overruns.

And the city council is scheduled to receive an update on the Northgate citizen's group study July 10th.

Click HERE to read and download the background information and the resolution that was approved at the June 12, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the June 17, 2025 College Station ISD school board meeting.

College Station ISD school board members and administrators starts the process of changing campus boundaries of elementary, intermediate, and middle school campuses.

CSISD chief financial officer Heather Wilson reported at Tuesday's meeting (June 17) that some campus buildings have too many students, others are well below capacity, and some campuses need to be more balanced in the percentage of economically disadvantaged students. Those conditions are laid out in a CSISD board policy.

Wilson emphasized high school boundaries in CSISD will not change.

Superintendent Tim Harkrider said there will be an online survey to collect comments.

Survey results will be reviewed by the board later this summer. And a final decision will come no later than November to implement the new boundaries for the 2026-27 school year.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the June 17, 2025 College Station ISD school board meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the June 17, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

At the end of March, 150 volunteers with the Bryan/College Station chamber of commerce gathered information about the local economy from representatives of 679 businesses and manufacturers.

Results of this year's chamber day survey were shared at this week's Brazos County commission meeting.

Chamber president Glen Brewer said almost two-thirds of those who were contacted expected business to improve this year.

Brewer also said cuts in federal funding led to more pessimistic expectations by health and social service agencies.

40 percent of local employers plan on adding staff this year, while 54 percent plan on keeping the same number and four percent plan on fewer employees. 46 percent of those surveyed rate the quality of qualified employees as good and 38 percent were rated as fair.

Survey results were also presented about the quality of life outside the workplace, the quality of safety around respondent's neighborhoods, and how many surveys came from historically underutilized businesses (HUB).

Click HERE to read and download survey results that were prevented at the June 17, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the June 16, 2025 Bryan ISD school board meeting.

Bryan ISD employees on the district's health insurance are again discouraged to no use freestanding emergency room clinics.

The subject was brought up during Monday night's (June 16) school board meeting.

During the public hearing on the 2025-26 school year budget, board members and administrators talked about the $1 million line item to cover charges from out of network freestanding emergency room clinics.

This podcast contains comments from board members and administrators about this issue.

Bryan Councilman Ray Arrington visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about his accomplishments during his time on council, keeping his district relevant, attracting growth, engaging with his constituents, the committees he serves on, Juneteenth, townhall meetings, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast is the Texas A&M system's retirement reception program for chancellor John Sharp that was held June 18, 2025.

Below is the order of the speakers and the time on the recording each person starts their remarks.

• Emcee was Texas A&M system's Stephanie Bjune.
• (1:09) Soon to retire system deputy chancellor and chief financial officer Billy Hamilton
• (8:36) System general counsel Ray Bonilla
• (12:36) Retired system vice chancellor of marketing and communications Laylan Copelin
• (18:42) Commanding general of the Army Futures Command James Rainey
• (23:18) Congressman Michael McCaul
• (30:06) Linda McCaul, wife of congressman Michael McCaul
• (35:15) Chancellor John Sharp
• (50:40) Billy Hamilton finishing the program by leading a champagne toast to John Sharp.

Texas A&M system employees hosted a retirement reception for chancellor John Sharp Wednesday afternoon (June 18).

The reception program included Sharp being presented one of the nation’s highest military honors for civilians, the U.S. Army’s meritorious public service medal. The medal was presented by the commanding general of the Army Futures Command, General James Rainey.

Other speakers included Sharp, his deputy chancellor and chief financial officer Billy Hamilton, his general counsel Ray Bonilla, his vice chancellor of marketing and communications Laylan Copelin, and Linda McCaul, the wife of Michael McCaul.

News release from the Texas A&M system regarding the presentation of the U.S. Army's meritorious public service medal:

As he wraps up his 14-year tenure as chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, John Sharp is receiving one of the nation’s highest military honors for civilians: the U.S. Army’s Meritorious Public Service Medal.
 
The award was given to Sharp on Wednesday by Gen. James E. Rainey, Commanding General of Army Futures Command (AFC), during a retirement reception. Sharp’s last day as chancellor is June 30.
 
The Medal recognizes Sharp for his leadership in creating Texas A&M-RELLIS and devoting much of its innovative research capabilities to developing next-generation technologies for national defense.
 
Rainey said the relationship between AFC and the Texas A&M System is as important as any relationship that AFC has with any U.S. university. Rainey recalled his first meeting with Sharp, confessing to being nervous because of its importance of the partnership. 
 
“The Chancellor put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘The answer is yes. What’s your question? You and your organization have embodied that,” Rainey said. “Thank you for everything you’ve done, sir.’
 
At Sharp’s direction, the System forged an agreement with AFC on July 31, 2019, which led to construction of the George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC) that opened three years later.
 
Headquartered in Austin, the AFC draws on research from U.S. universities, national laboratories and the private sector to help modernize the U.S. Army. BCDC is a central hub for testing and evaluation of that research because of its unique combination of physical facilities, secure-cyber capabilities and research expertise.
 
At Wednesday’s event, Sharp thanked Rainey for his service to the nation and recalled their meeting the same way.

“One of the great traditions of Texas A&M is preparing soldiers, airmen and sailors to serve the United States,” Sharp said. “Our university system is built on patriotism and dedication to this country, and it is our great honor to do whatever the Army Futures Command asks of us.”
 
The medal is awarded exclusively to civilians who have provided outstanding service to the Army, its mission, troops, veterans and their families. Other widely known recipients include actor Gary Sinise, comedian Stephen Colbert and Bud Selig, former commissioner of Major League Baseball. 
 
The Army’s citation certificate reads: 
 
To Chancellor John S. Sharp. For meritorious service as the Chancellor for the Texas A&M University System. Chancellor Sharp spearheaded a vital partnership between the Texas A&M University System and the United States Army Futures Command, significantly advancing national defense capabilities. His leadership was instrumental in establishing the RELLIS Campus as a defense innovation hub, including the unique Ballistic Aero-Optics and Materials Range for testing advanced weaponry. Chancellor Sharp’s extraordinary performance, professionalism, and dedication to duty are in keeping with the finest traditions of public service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Texas A&M University System, the United States Army Futures Command, and the United States Army.

This podcast contains comments from the June 17, 2025 Blinn College board of trustees meeting.

Records are not available for the last time that Blinn College's largest campus by enrollment was not in Bryan. But that was the case during the spring semester.

Headcount in Bryan was 3,980. Ten years ago, Bryan enrollment was more than 12,000.

Blinn's largest spring enrollment was the number of online students at 4,236. After Bryan, the third largest presence was the RELLIS campus location at 3,523.

By percentage, the number of high school students taking dual credit classes showed the largest increase compared with the year before at 19.65 percent. That was followed by RELLIS at 12.30 percent. By comparison, headcount at the Bryan campus fell 15.82 percent compared with the spring 2024 semester.

Vice chancellor Becky McBride repeated at June's board of trustees meeting, what she has said for years about the impact of more students going to four year universities.

McBride said one Blinn program now at the RELLIS campus is returning to Bryan, to make more room for students at RELLIS affiliated with one of the Texas A&M system alliance of regional universities.

McBride also shared continuing recruitment efforts. One focus is bringing back former Blinn students. McBride said former students have received a combined one million e-mails and 3,000 text messages.

Blinn's district wide enrollment for the spring 2025 semester was 16,076. That's 125 more students compared with a year ago and is within 1,000 students of a record high that was set in 2020, just before the start of the pandemic.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials at the June 17, 2025 Blinn College board of trustees meeting.

Bryan Councilwoman Marca Ewers-Shurtleff visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about the water rights lawsuit, Texas water law, existing water well production, development at Midtown Park, the city budget, Bryan ISD, upcoming events, and more during her appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the June 12, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

Almost three hours of last Thursday's College Station city council meeting was a discussion about what they could do to make housing more affordable.

No decisions were made, as the council also recognizes the continuing work by a citizen committee on that subject.

Much of the time was devoted to whether impact fees to help pay for infrastructure in new developments should be reduced or waived. 

Councilmembers were told the combination of impact fees, building permits, and parkland dedication fees account for up to four percent of the total sales price of a 1,450 to 1,550 square foot home in College Station.

The council was told in College Station, there are more than 1,100 housing units supported by tax credits or federal programs. And 41 households have received a combined $1.3 million dollars in down payment assistance.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials that were shown during the June 12, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the May 27, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Brazos County's interest income during the first quarter of the 2025 calendar year was $4,245,341.42.

That amount drew the attention of a speaker during the public comment portion of the county commission's May 27th meeting.

Responding to a question of how the interest income will be spent, county auditor Katie Conner says generally the income is credited to the department where the principal is located.

The county's first quarter 2025 investment report also showed during the fourth quarter of calendar year 2024, interest income was $3,864,561.70.

Click HERE to read and download the Brazos County investment report for the first quarter of calendar year 2025.